Christmas in Jerusalem

So it is weird this year - being away from home and family ---- can you believe I made it 36 years without ever being away at Christmas? I guess it was bound to happen eventually. :)

If I couldn't be home, I guess I had the next best thing - a great day in a wonderful community of friends in Jerusalem!

These are my friends, Ben and Stacie. They have graciously let me stay with them for about ten days while we needed to be out of our apartment (long story). How do you like our "tree"? Several local olive trees made a 'donation' and voila! A Christmas tree. We like it.

We had a big midday meal at our neighbors house...

Reading the Christmas story...
Meet Vernon and Aubrey....my roommates for next semester. And Anna too, but she isn't back from the U.S. yet.

Jana and me...fellow CIUers.

Can you call it Christmas without having a large, paper mache lily to sit on? I don't know....except to say that its the best white elephant gift I have ever seen.

The boys had a pudding eating contest...

The aftermath....

That's all for now....Merry Christmas everyone!! :)

Santa's Ghetto

Luke 2:15 says:

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

So a group of us decided to be like shepherds, and walk to Bethlehem. It was Christmas Eve, not Christmas day, but never mind.

Cue the sheep....

As we crossed the checkpoint into Bethlehem, which is part of the West Bank today, we wondered to what extent our experience paralleled that of 1st century travelers en route to their hometowns during the census issued by Caesar Augustus. We had to walk through a checkpoint, which is basically soldiers at a post, checking IDs. We had to consider our safety - not to a large degree - but enough to realize we were in a politcally tense environment. Anyway, just some thoughts....here we are approaching the checkpoint.

Once inside, we walked for a distance along The Wall. You will hear it called the Security Fence, the Separation Wall - all kinds of things - depending on your political slant. Basically, its the controversial wall that is being constructed between Israel and the West Bank. Here is a piece of it...

As you can see, its covered with graffiti. During the Christmas Season, some additional artwork was added as part of a traveling exhibition called Santa's Ghetto. Here are some more pics of things we found on the wall, as well as artwork from the show.

As you can see, it was quite an interesting day in the town where Yeshua was born. Even in the main tourist spot - Manger Square - there was an odd sense of things. It was really crowded, and people were singing carols, and there was Christmas stuff to buy- but but was kind of a 'fake Christmas' feeling, compounded by the HEAVY security in the streets, snipers on rooftops, etc.

And here we are, in the midst of the madness!

Tel Qazir

Lucky me! I have been able to visit Tel Qazir twice now since school let out! Tel Qazir is the kibbutz in Galilee where I lived in the Summer of 2006, so it was great to go back and visit friends. On my last trip, Elizabeth, my teammate from that summer, was also visiting. What a fun reunion. Here are a few pics...

Israel and me...

Elizabeth, Etti and me.

And our precious friends, Tamar and her daughter, Imbal.

We saw many others too, but I failed to take more pics. :( Maybe on my next visit!

Nazareth

Here are some pics from a trip to Nazareth I took earlier this month. Of course, the big draw is the Church of the Annunciation. Its too big to get a complete picture of it, but here is the entrance...

All around the outside "courtyard" of the church, and also inside, there are depictions of Mary from artists representing countries all over the world. Some of them were really cool. Here is the one from the US, which was a bit flashy and over the top - Imagine that? :)

We also went to Nazareth Village, which is a reconstructed 1st century village. They have tried to make things as authentic as possible, so you get the best glimpse into the life at the time of Yeshua. Pretty cool.

The tekton, or master craftsman...

Terraced farmland...
The olive press. It was actually olive harvest time, so the press was in use! See the olive gunk on the wheel?The weaver...

Me...demostrating my amazing thread-spinning skills. :)

Plowing the ground for wheat...

A threshing sledge, which will be used in the spring when the wheat is harvested. A donkey pulls the sledge, and the small stones in the bottom of the board are enough to crush the wheat.

The synagogue...

And of course, one cute little donkey.

Jordan Field Study

It's interesting - Today the Jordan Valley is a border, but in Biblical times the land on either side of the Jordan was considered part of the same region. The tribes of Israel lived on both sides and people crossed back and forth all the time. It was interesting to see how -in so many ways -the land is the same, but today it is viewed so separately.

We stayed in Amman two nights of our trip. Amman is the both the modern day capital of Jordan, as well as the site of the ancient capital of Ammon, (Rabbah).

Here is a picture of the city today...

And remains of the ancient capital, Rabbah.

Here I am at Pella. Pella was one of the cities of the Decapolis, and the sister city to Beth Shean, which can be seen in the distance, across the valley behind me - but in Isreal!

One of my favorite spots was Gadera. Some believe it is the site for the pig drowning story from the Gospels, but never mind. Clearly this would be a long way for the pigs to go! Regardless, what a beautiful view of the Sea of Galilee from here! Do you see what I mean about the region being united?? I had to keep reminding myself that I was in another country, looking down into Israel from here. Even more exciting, I could actually see Tel Katzir from here - the kibbutz where I lived last summer. I can't wait to go and visit there during the break!

Here I am with my friend Ruth...

We made a stop at Ramoth-Gilead. Nothing much to see here today, except the Bedouin camp next door. How cool to see a sheep fold. Our teacher was talking about the Old Testament the whole time we were here (this is where king Ahab fell to the Syrians), but I was so distracted by the sheepfold - all I had was New Testament imagery in my head!

On the Dome of Gilead, another Decapolis city - Gerasa.

More of Gerasa - with the modern city in the background..

And of course, the highlight of the trip ---- PETRA. What a fabulous site. You walk into it through what is called the Siq (seek), which is a deep, slot canyon. You walk in it for about a mile, and then you see this....

Which opens up to see this - the "Treasury". Petra is an entire city of Nabatean tombs - a necropolis, if you will. :) One of the larger and most well known tomb is called the Treasury, because it was once believed it was full of loot. Instead, it was just a tomb, but the name stuck. It is most well-preserved, as its location in the canyon better protects it from wind-erosion.

This whole region is red sandstone, and in some places you can find some amazing color!

The other well-known tomb at Petra is called the 'Monastery'. The walk is over 900 steps to get up to it, which may not sound too bad, but we had already walked around the whole site and 600 steps up the 'high place' in another spot. So I really wanted to see the Monastery - but my feet and legs were not happy about it. So we reached an agreement - take a donkey up, and walk down.

So here I am. My donkey's name was Michael Jackson. Good donkey...

Donkey cam...

Victory!! We were delivered safely (we had our moments of doubt) to the top! Here is the "Monastery" ...

...A.K.A. The Top of the World....because that is how I felt from up here, looking down into the Rift Valley. I can't tell you how much I LOVED this day!! :)

And then ----Our last stop....of our last day....of our last field study. How fitting that the location would be Mt. Nebo, the mountain where God showed Moses all the land He promised to the Israelites.

Deuteronomy 34:1-4

1 Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the LORD showed him the whole land—

from Gilead to Dan, 2 all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, 3 the Negev and the whole region from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar.

4 Then the LORD said to him, "This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, 'I will give it to your descendants.' I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it."

After all we have learned this semester, we could virtually stand there as the passage was read aloud, and point in the direction of each of these places as they were listed. It still gives me chills to think about ---all these years later we can stand here ----and, for the most part, see what Moses would have seen. Then to remember that he died here and never entered the land that he was shown! As a perfect ending to our time, we left here, got on the bus, and descended into the valley, entering into "The Promise Land" via Jericho, just as the Isrealites would have, led by Joshua. Fantastic.

I love this land. It takes my breath away.